God led his people into the wilderness to test them, with the kind of test that reveals what is in their hearts. What was revealed was grumbling, yet God provided for their needs out of his grace. Through his testing and provision, God was teaching his people to trust him. Jesus Christ went through the wilderness test, too; and what was revealed was not grumbling, but perfect trust. Jesus is the better Israel, the better Moses, the God of provision, and the Bread from Heaven. We can learn to trust God in our “wilderness wanderings” by looking to the cross, where God proved his love and trustworthiness and gave us Christ. And Christ is all we need.

In Exodus 15:22–27, Israel’s quick turn from praise to grumbling in the wilderness reveals the deeper danger of the Christian life: not external enemies, but the sinful tendency of the heart to doubt God’s goodness when trials come. Their bitter waters at Marah expose both the reality of suffering and the temptation to respond with grumbling rather than lament. Yet God provides a remedy when he shows Moses a tree that turns the bitter water sweet, pointing forward to the greater “tree” of the cross, where Christ entered our bitterness, bore our curse, and turned the waters of death and sorrow into sweetness for his people.

The song of Exodus 15 is the first congregational song in all of Scripture — and they had good reason to sing, having just beheld their salvation! We, as Christians, have the best possible reason to sing praise to God and the firmest hope. Singing together is a Christian privilege, as we follow our Worship Leader (Jesus) in joining heaven’s song.